Tech's charge: Upset OU or have longest losing streak in 13 years

Texas Tech was able to sustain a perfect start through the first weekend of October. Now the quest for perfection has quickly given way to a predicament.

Tech (4-2, 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference) is trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 1998, and hoping to do so in one of the most impossible of venues. Third-ranked Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0) will be trying to extend its home winning streak to 40 when the Sooners host Tech at 7 p.m. today in a game regionally televised by ABC.

Texas A&M and unbeaten Kansas State, both ranked, won close games in Lubbock the last two Saturdays. So instead of being 6-0 and ranked, the Raiders were already facing questions this week about whether they can muster the six wins needed for bowl eligibility.

“We knew that everybody in our conference was good,” Tech quarterback Seth Doege said. “It just happened to be that we’re playing these three ranked teams (in a row). But just like I’ve said, we really do feel like if we play up to our ability, we’ll play with anybody.”

When Tech last lost three in a row, 13 years ago, the entire skid also came against ranked teams: road losses to Colorado and Texas A&M, followed by a home defeat against Missouri. Former Tech coach Mike Leach faced three or more ranked teams in a row three times in his 10-year tenure and rose to the occasion, going 2-1 against such gauntlets in 2004 and 2007 and 3-1 against four ranked teams in a row in 2008.

Seven of the last eight teams on Tech’s schedule have been ranked at some point this season.

“We knew it was going to be tough the first half and tougher the second half,” Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. “This group, I like its attitude of just, ‘Hey, let’s go play and get better.’ I think our coaches have done a good job of selling that point — not worry about who you play; just worry about yourself and try not to let your teammates down.

“Hopefully, we can stay a little bit healthier than we did the first half of the year in terms of playmakers so we can possibly be a little better in scoring points and being more consistent.”

Tech has been without perhaps its top wide receiver, Darrin Moore, since Sept. 24, and lost leading rusher Eric Stephens for the season two weeks ago against Texas A&M. Moore was on the travel roster for today’s game, but Tuberville didn’t sound optimistic about him playing.

While the Red Raiders were losing key players, they noticed the rest of the league seemed to be getting stronger. The league’s 27-3 non-conference record was best in the nation based on winning percentage, and every Big 12 team finished with a winning record in non-conference for the first time since 2004.

“We kind of saw this coming starting in our first few games, seeing the way everyone was playing and how everything was working out,” said flanker Alex Torres, who has topped 100 yards receiving each of the last two weeks. “We knew this was going to be a tough conference this year.”

The closest thing Tech has left to an expected win is next week against Iowa State. After that, the Raiders might not be favored again unless they can pull an upset or two.

“Obviously, the Big 12 right now has some great teams,” Torres said. “Not only do we feel we can compete with anyone in this league, we feel there are going to be upsets. There are going to be all kinds of crazy things happen. People win that aren’t supposed to win. People lose that aren’t supposed to lose.”

The latter circumstance, though, rarely happens to Oklahoma playing at home. Since Bob Stoops became coach in 1999, the Sooners have lost only twice in Norman — to Oklahoma State in 2001 and to TCU in 2005.

Since then, the Sooners have built the fifth-longest home winning streak in the modern era of major-college football during which they have won by an average score of 45-15. They’ve slaughtered Tech three times in the Raiders’ last five visits: 60-15 in 2002, 65-21 in 2008 and 45-7 last year.

Tech’s road trips this year to New Mexico and Kansas look tame by comparison.

“I think it’s our first true hostile environment,” Doege said. “We have a lot of young guys on the team that really haven’t played in a hostile environment yet, and this is going to be their first taste. But at the same time it comes down to believing in the game plan and believing in your teammates, not worrying about what the fans are saying or anything like that.”

Tech’s 82nd-ranked defense figures to have its hands full against OU quarterback Landry Jones, who’s fourth in the nation in total offense, and wide receiver Ryan Broyles, who’s coming off a 13-catch, school-record 217-yard performance in last week’s 47-17 conquest of Kansas. In that game, Broyles became the NCAA career leader in catches (326) and the Big 12 career record holder in receiving touchdowns (44).

As if they aren’t enough to keep an eye on, running back Dominique Whaley, a walk-on transfer from Langston, ran for a career-high 165 yards.

Tech is expected to be without starting linebacker Blake Dees, who made a season-high nine tackles last week, and defensive tackle Donald Langley, who has started every game. Neither was on the travel roster for today’s game. They are out with undisclosed injuries, a Tech spokesman said.

The Raiders were already a four-touchdown underdog even before that announcement. But Tuberville isn’t selling his team short.

“We went in there last year and didn’t play very well — they had a lot to do with it — but we’re a better team than we were last year at this time,” Tuberville said.

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Hard roads

■ Texas Tech has played three or more ranked opponents in a row six times in the Big 12 Conference era. A recap of how the Red Raiders fared in those stretches with opponents’ rankings at time of games:

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Tech has it back against the wall, losing 2 games it should have won.Stranger things have happened in Techs history as far as upsets. This game can be won but it will take being agressive. Wish this team the very best. Play to win!!! GUNS UP!!!